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JAPAN^S  ATTEMPT 
TO  EXTERMINATE 
KOREAN  CHRISTIANS 


BY 


NEWELL  MARTIN 


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Japan’s  Attempt  to  Exterminate 
Korean  Christians 


BY 

NEWELL  MARTIN 


This  letter  was  referred  to  in  the  speech  of  Hon. 
George  W.  Norris,  of  Nebraska,  on  the  Treaty  of 
Peace  with  Germany,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  October  lo,  ii  and  13,  1919,  and  is  printed 
in  the  Congressional  Record,  October  14,  1919,  Vol. 
58,  No.  120,  page  7322. 


MILFORD,  CONNECTICUT 
1919 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/japansattempttoOOmart 


TO  ANY  AMERICANS  WHO  ARE  PREJUDICED 
AGAINST  THE  USE  OF  TORTURE  AS  A 
MEANS  OF  RELIGIOUS  PERSUASION  : 


For  the  Korean  Christians  no  relief  or  remedy  can  be  seen 
on  this  side  of  eternity.  My  prayer  is  that  your  hearts  may 
be  touched,  so  that  none  of  those  that  hear  me  may  consent 
to  the  sin  of  giving  over  Chinese  Christians  to  the  tormentors. 
If  you  had  lived  during  the  rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  would 
you,  for  any  political  profit,  great  or  small,  have  sold  the 
Netherlands  to  the  Spanish  Inquisition?  In  those  days  of 
manly  faith  and  honor  what  English  statesman  could  have 
debated,  even  in  his  mind,  the  expediency  of  so  dark  a trea- 
son? 

In  this  letter  is  nothing  new.  In  his  “Mastery  of  the  Far 
East,”  and  in  his  short,  clear  article  in  “Asia”  for  September, 
Dr.  Arthur  Judson  Brown  has  told  how  Japan  already  intim- 
idates and  degrades  the  Shan-tung  Christians  and  a certain 
little  brown  pamphlet  has  already  set  forth  the  few  examples 
of  persecution  in  Korea  here  given. 

That  pamphlet  (certain  pages  of  which  I shall  refer  to 
thus,  “P.  30”)  is  entitled  ‘“The  Korean  Situation:  Authentic 
Accounts  of  Recent  Events.”  The  price  is  25  cents.  It 
was  issued  in  August  by  The  Commission  on  Relations  with 
the  Orient  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in 
America,  105  East  22d  Street,  New  York  City.  The  foreword 
is  signed  by  William  I.  Haven,  Chairman,  and  Sidney  L.  Gu- 
lick,  Secretary.  The  latter  is  widely  known  as  a powerful 
propagandist  for  Japan.  So  much  of  the  pamphlet  as  is 
written  by  him  and  Dr.  Haven  shows  an  intense  desire  to 
keep  the  laity  quiet  and  a deplorable  eagerness  to  persuade 
us  that  butter  will  not  melt  in  the  mouth  of  a Japanese  tor- 
turer. The  pamphlet  is,  obviously,  issued  reluctantly,  under 
pressure  of  persistent  inquiry  from  missionaries  and  other 
Christians. 

The  statements  of  fact  in  that  pamphlet  are  not  like  tales  of 
atrocity  told  by  refugees,  in  places  of  safety,  against  a distant 

3 


enemy.  They  are  statements  made  in  secret,  in  the  hope  of 
bringing  some  sort  of  relief.  Both  victim  and  report- 
ing missionary  are  still  in  the  awful  grip  of  the  oppressor. 
Neither  can  hope  to  profit  by  falsehood  or  exaggeration. 

All  American  missionaries,  indeed,  have  many  times  been 
sternly  warned,  by  their  superiors  that  it  will  be  worse  for 
them  if  they  mislead  the  home  office  by  any  exaggeration  or 
show  of  sympathy  with  any  opposition  to  authority. 

Published  with  reluctance  by  an  advocate  of  the  Japanese 
Government,  the  statements  of  fact  tucked  away  in  that 
pamphlet  have  more  than  the  weight  of  charges  against  that 
Government.  They  are  the  unwilling  confessions  of  its 
friends. 

The  first  five  pages  of  that  brown  pamphlet  make  uninten- 
tionally a sinister  and  terrifying  revelation  of  Japan’s  hidden 
hand  in  America. 

The  problem  before  Tokio  was: 

(1)  to  blast  Korea  with  a sudden  flame  of  persecution,  so 
that  no  crop  of  Christian  weeds  would  ever  make  head  again; 

(2)  to  terrify  so  profoundly  all  Koreans  and  Chinese  that 
prudent  men  would  know  without  ever  being  told  again  that  in 
Japanese  colonies  faith  in  a crucified  Saviour  leads  straight  to 
a martyr's  crown;  to  heavenly  glory  perhaps,  but  to  certain 
earthly  shame  and  ruin; 

(3)  to  perfect  this  advertisement  of  her  heathen  power 
among  her  slaves  before  midsummer; 

(4)  and  to  keep  America  and  Paris  ignorant  of  the  Korean 
horrors. 

Japan  achieved  these  seemingly  incompatible  triumphs  with 
a skill  beyond  imagination.  She  began  by  choking  off  such 
voices  as  the  “Japan  Chronicle,”  the  most  potent  English 
newspaper  in  Japan,  by  a rigid  perfection  of  censorship.  But 
how  silence  the  angry,  murmuring  Christians  of  San  Francisco 
and  New  York?  How  keep  their  murmurs  from  rising  to  a 
roar  that  might  reach  Paris  over  the  heads  of  European  cen- 
sors? 

Any  American  has  cause  for  grave  thought  when  he  learns 
that  all  this  was  foreseen  and  provided  for  beforehand  as  care- 
fully and  completely  as  were  the  rawhides  and  hot  irons  that 
tore  the  flesh  of  faithful  Christians. 

4 


Who  knows  by  what  magic  or  good  luck  or  supernatural  per- 
suasiveness heathen  Japan  controls  the  time  and  manner  of 
publishing  or  suppressing  the  most  important  missionary 
news  since  Diocletian’s  day?  Hundreds  of  pages  of 
facts  have  been  brought  through  all  perils  with  speed  and 
secrecy  to  the  Presbyterian  and  Methodist  mission  boards. 
Published,  those  horrifying  documents  would  have  roused  the 
most  complacent  priest  of  our  city  churches,  the  meanest 
deacon  of  us  all,  and  the  coldest  of  our  politicians;  and  the 
persecutors  would  have  been  slowed  up  or  inconvenienced; 
and  Paris  might  have  denied  their  prayer  for  added  power. 
A machinery,  however,  had  been  prepared  beforehand,  and 
according  to  plan,  as  the  Japanese  of  Europe  used  to  say,  the 
unsuspecting  Presbyterians  and  Methodists  poured  their  facts 
into  the  “publicity”  department  of  a “commission”  the  secre- 
tary of  which  is  Dr.  Sidney  L.  Gulick,  famous  for  his  eulogies 
of  Japan,  many  of  them  entirely  just.  Those  facts  were  buried 
forever,  then,  in  the  office  of  a Japanophlle  enthusiast  who 
was  not  less  determined  than  Tokio  to  keep  them  from  getting 
about  among  the  Americans  or  getting  to  Paris.  Dr.  Gulick 
called  in  Japanese  officials,  who  controlled  and  directed  the 
obsequious  whispers  in  which  we  Christians  vented  our  fiery 
wrath.  IMonth  after  month  went  by,  and  five  months  after  the 
persecution  broke  out.  Dr.  Gulick’s  “publicity”  department,  un- 
der pressure,  reluctantly  printed  that  brown  pamphlet.  To 
kill  all  possible  interest  in  it,  he  prefaced  it  with  five  pages  of 
flattery  of  the  Japanese  Government  and  of  advice  to  us  to 
trust  Apollyon  to  execute  all  necessary  “reforms.”  Who  wish- 
es to  read  one  single  page  of  these  atrocities  when  assured 
by  Dr.  Gulick  in  the  “foreword”  that  a most  efficient  govern- 
ment is  doing  what  we  pray  for  and  that  the  mission  boards 
themselves  are  content?  God  will  not  be  content,  nor  will  the 
Christians  of  California. 

Perhaps  you  have  not  seen  Japanese  executioners.  I have. 
July  6,  1919,  was  perhaps  the  very  day  on  which  Dr.  Gulick 
was  writing  his  misleading  praise  of  Tokio.  Months  before 
that  da'y  Dr.  Gulick  had  begun  prostrating  us  in  respectful 
telegrams  before  the  Mikado’s  throne.  On  July  6,  in  the  cap- 
ital city  of  Korea,  a muscular  Japanese  executioner  strips  to 
his  task  again.  The  sword-like  rawhide  whistles  through 

5 


the  air,  and  falls  with  sickening  force  across  the  bare  flesh 
of  a Christian  student.  After  ten  cruel  slashes,  delivered 
with  all  his  might,  he  is  relieved  by  a second  executioner 
for  ten  more  cuts;  and  then  comes  a third,  to  give  ten  more. 
On  July  7,  once  more,  three  executioners  drive  the  rawhide 
with  full  swing  and  force  into  the  very  place  that  was  torn 
and  gashed  yesterday.  The  boy  is  again  dragged  back  to  his 
jail.  If  you  were  he,  lying  there,  waiting  for  the  next  day’s 
torture,  would  you  not  pray  for  death?  Or  would  you,  per- 
haps, curse  the  day  you  became  a Christian.  Cr.  if  you  knew 
whose  secret  hand  was  guilty  of  your  torments,  would  you  not 
curse  Gulick? 

A seventeenth  century  writer  says  that  it  is  sport  to  see  a 
man  on  the  rack  for  half  an  hour.  There  are  sadists  that 
skin  cats  alive.  But  neither  of  these  sports  is  so  thrilling  to 
amateurs  of  pain  as  the  torment  of  the  rawhide,  and  sadists 
gather  where  the  police  are  torturing  Christians. 

On  July  8 the  boy  is  brought  out  for  a third  torment  and  at 
the  first  blow,  as  if  the  festering  wounds  were  torn  open  by 
steel  fingers,  blood  and  pus  and  gobs  of  Christian  flesh  fly  up 
and  bespatter  the  laughing  bystanders.  Thence  young  Chris- 
tian goes  to  the  American  hospital  or  to  his  grave.  He 
is  but  one  of  many;  how  many  none  will  ever  know. 

The  persecution  has  done  its  deadly  work,  and  now  the 
friends  of  the  persecutors  will  ask  us  to  trust  and  admire  the 
new  governor-general  and  his  smooth  words  about  gentleness 
and  reform — the  purring  of  the  sated  tiger. 

I have  no  part  in  trade  or  politics  or  missions,  but  I have  a 
powerful  motive  for  beseeching  your  attention.  Chinese  is  my 
native  language,  and  I mourn  over  the  all  but  hopeless  en- 
slavement of  the  land  where  I was  born  and  which  I have  al- 
ways loved.  From  childhood  I have  hated  with  an  implacable 
hatred  all  those  that  trade  in  secrecy  and  all  persecutors  and 
torturers. 

NEWELL  MARTIN. 

Milford,  Connecticut, 

% 

September,  1919. 


6 


A PAGAN  PERSECUTION  IN  THE  TWENTIETH 
CENTURY.  TEN  YEARS  AGO  THIS  WOULD  HAVE 
BEEN  BEYOND  BELIEF 


Neither  Italy  nor  the  Aegean  is  so  beautiful  as  Japan,  nor  is 
any  people  more  lovable  and  admirable  than  the  Japanese. 
Gentlest  of  men  with  their  owm  children,  fiercest  to  their  foes, 
these  indomitable  islanders  are  aware  from  a calm  observa- 
tion of  facts  that  they  are  above  common  human  beings  as 
Hebrews  are  above  Hottentots,  but  that  is  no  reason  why  com- 
mon men  should  unduly  smooth  the  path  of  their  coming 
masters. 

The  Japanese  have  seen  how  a handful  of  British  have  risen 
to  world  dominion.  The  cold-blooded  Japanese  oligarchs  think 
their  own  turn  should  come  next.  In  the  relentless  pursuit 
of  this  unwholesome  ambition  Japanese  politicians  have  set 
themselves  to  possess,  enslave,  and  assimilate  Korea  and 
Shan-tung,  the  two  keys  of  Asia. 

To  the  Koreans,  only  fifteen  years  ago,  they  guaranteed  in- 
dependence. Today  in  Korea  it  may  be  death  to  speak  the 
word.  To  the  Koreans,  nine  years  ago,  they  guaranteed  free- 
dom of  religion.  In  Korea  today  to  be  a Christian  is  to  be  in 
deadly  peril.  Today,  in  enslaving  the  Koreans,  the  Japanese 
recklessly  degrade  themselves  and  smirch  the  honor  of  their 
race. 

Like  forest  fires  in  a season  of  drought,  atrocities  now  break 
forth  all  over  the  world,  and  men  become  despairingly  indif- 
ferent and  wait  wearily  for  the  horrors  to  burn  themselves 
out.  But  the  Japanese  atrocities  in  Korea  demand  our  most 
intense  attention,  because:  first,  pagans  are  persecuting  Chris- 
tians; secondly,  we  are  using  our  gigantic  power  to  extend 
these  persecutions  to  Shan-tung  and  the  rest  of  northern 
China;  thirdly,  these  are  not  war  atrocities  or  civil  war  atro- 
cities, and  these  tales  are  not  scandals  invented  by  a feeble 
folk  to  discredit  their  tyrants,  but  are  the  horrors  of  re- 
ligious persecution  directed  against  peaceful  Christians  and 
unarmed  women  and  children. 


7 


We  begin  to  understand  that  in  “opening”  Japan  we  played 
the  perilous  part  of  the  Rash  Fisherman  of  the  Arabian 
Nights.  We  unbottled  the  appalling  Afreet  whose  omnipotent 
form  now  towers  to  the  stars  and  blackens  all  the  eastern  sky. 
But  yesterday  we  were  condescending  to  these  islanders.  To- 
day, under  the  dictation  of  Japanese,  our  huge  nation  turns  to 
paths  of  shame.  Imperious,  on  their  tiny  islands,  they  make 
cowards  of  us  all. 

If  you  are  a Japanese  policeman,  you  can  have  no  end  of  fun 
with  a Presbyterian  school-girl.  (P  47)  Throw  her  down, 
kick  her,  here  and  there,  hard;  drag  her  to  your  police  court. 
Beat  her  about  the  face  and  head  and  legs  and  back  until  she 
is  all  blood  and  tears  and  shrieks  and  convulsive  sobs.  Tell 
her  to  show  her  breasts.  When  she  refuses,  tear  off  her  un- 
dershirt. Keep  her  four  days,  then  take  her  to  another  prison. 
There  strip  her  naked;  have  her  “looked  at  by  the  men.”  This 
is  one  of  the  mildest  of  the  things  done  in  Korea  in  March  of 
this  year,  while  the  silent,  inscrutable,  secretive,  thoroughly 
informed  envoys  of  Japan,  in  Paris,  were  offering  every  dip- 
lomatic courtesy  to  our  commissioners. 

But  for  the  calm  confidence  of  those  Japanese  envoys  In 
America’s  submissiveness  to  Japan  that  girl  today  would  be 
like  any  New  York  maiden,  securely  studying  her  Bible  les- 
son, and  no  harm  would  have  come  to  her  from  the  Japanese 
officials  who,  with  greedy,  lecherous  eyes,  watched  her  as  she 
went  by,  all  faith  and  hope  and  maiden  modesty.  The  soldiers 
that  gloated  over  her  bare  body  are  a part  of  the  forces  with 
which  our  own  soldiers  and  engineers  are  affiliated  today  in 
northern  Asia. 

In  IMarch,  1919,  while  we  were  praying  daily  that  the  Paris 
Conference  might  lay  firm  foundations  for  peace,  righteous- 
ness and  freedom,  the  Japanese  Government  secretly  ordered 
its  police  in  Korea  to  extirpate  the  Christian  religion,  which 
used  to  flourish  there  and  also  the  modern  Korean  religion,  a 
sort  of  Sermon-on-the-Mount  affair,  whose  creed  begins  with 
the  fantastic  proposition, 

Who  waits  on  God, 

Will  wield  God’s  might. 


8 


No  non-pagan  eye  but  that  of  the  Recording  Angel  has  ever 
seen  that  decree. 

You  can  infer,  however,  with  scientific  accuracy,  from  the 
acts  of  Japanese  soldiers  and  police,  the  orders  of  their  Gov- 
ernment, more  exactly  than  you  can  infer  from  the  movement 
of  a man’s  hand  the  action  of  his  brain. 

From  those  actions  we  know  that  the  Japanese  Government 
had  directed  that  the  Korean  people  must  be  taught  by  terror 
that  it  pays  to  be  a Buddhist,  and  that  it  does  not  pay  to  be  a 
Christian  or  to  follow  the  gentle  Korean  religion  or  to  have 
dealings  with  American  missionaries. 

The  American  missionaries  had  held  utterly  aloof  from  poli- 
tics, but  Christianity  embarrassed  the  Japanese  Government 
because  it  gave  the  Koreans  an  outlook  from  slavery,  a win- 
dow on  the  world.  You  cannot  be  in  the  house  of  even  an  in- 
tensely neutral  and  cautious  American  missionary  without 
stumbling  on  incendiary  books  like  “Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin,’’  or 
IMilton,  or  John  Bunyan. 

Religious  freedom  in  Korea  is  guaranteed  by  solemn  treat- 
ies, but  Tokio  thinks  it  no  longer  necessary  to  wear  any  pre- 
tense about  the  sanctity  of  treaties  or  to  make  broad  any 
phylacteries. 

Tokio  found  its  opportunity  to  get  rid  of  these  irksome  re 
liglons  in  the  Korean  Declaration  of  Independence  of  IMarch 
1.  Never  was  so  calm  a declaration.  As  a result  of  skillful 
secrecy  and  combination,  without  the  foreknowledge  of  mis- 
sionary, priest,  or  police,  all  the  people  of  Korea  came  forth  on 
one  day  and  peacefully  declared  themselves  independent. 
Their  sole  object  was  to  inform  the  Peace  Conference  of  Paris 
that  seventeen  millions  of  Koreans  desired  to  be  free.  (P.  22). 

In  this  outpouring  of  unarmed  multitudes  who  shouted 
“Jlansay!”  (meaning  “Hurrah!”)  there  was  a natural  pre-emin- 
ence of  people  of  schooling.  As  a great  number  of  those  who 
have  some  education  belonged  to  the  two  doomed  religions, 
this  gave  the  pagan  persecutors  their  chance. 

The  Government  resolved  to  strike  terror  forever  into  these 
Korean  Christians,  so  that  never  again  would  they  lift  their 
meek  faces  from  under  the  lash  and  cry  out  to  mankind.  They 
were  to  be  taught  that  it  does  not  pay  to  be  mixed  in  the  re- 
motest way  with  Christians  or  Americans. 


9 


Such  of  the  declarants  as  were  not  shot  down  at  once  had 
gone  peacefully  home,  to  wait  for  ]\Ir.  Wilson’s  Justice,  now, 
they  thought,  thoroughly  advised  and  aroused.  To  their 
homes  went  spies  and  gendarmes  and  police  and  dragged  the 
Christians  away  to  torment,  shame  and  death. 

In  six  weeks  Korea  was  quiet  with  the  stillness  of  death. 
Every  Korean  had  learned  that  if  he  breathed  a word  about 
Americans  or  iMr.  Wilson  or  freedom,  he  was  to  be  classed 
with  Christians  and  meet  a Christian’s  doom. 

The  Christians  were  swept  away  like  torn  paper  before  a 
hurricane.  We  are  told  of  40,000  arrested  and  6,000  killed  in 
the  Japanese  fury. 

Not  till  the  graves  give  up  their  dead  will  the  number  be 
known  exactly.  Those  figures  are  probably  low.  The  people 
of  Korea  are  one  sixth  of  those  of  the  Uni^^ed  States.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  even  Japanese  efficiency  can  strike  utter  ter- 
ror into  so  great  a population  without  killing  at  least  one  in 
every  2,000  and  arresting  six  times  as  many.  Some  Japanese 
Torquemada  may  offer  to  deny  these  figures.  I will  not  argue 
with  a murderer  as  to  the  number  of  his  victims  unless  he 
permits  me  at  least  to  inspect  the  cellar  where  he  hides  their 
skeletons.  Will  you.  Prime  Minister  Kara  of  Japan,  invite  an 
impartial  commission  to  report,  from  sifted  testimony,  exact 
statistics  as  to  how  many  women  have  been  dishonored,  how 
many  maidens  put  to  shame?  And  what  can  statistics  tell  us 
of  the  torments  of  Christians  slowly  done  to  death  in  heathen 
jails?  Have  the  Japanese  kept  record  with  algometers  and 
registered  the  sum  total  of  their  torments? 

When  Torquemada  ruled  in  Spain,  what  English  Protestant 
could  give  statistics  of  his  cruelties?  When  the  Waldenses 
went  to  the  stake  and  the  rack,  centuries  had  to  pass  before 
the  ledgers  of  the  Inquisition  were  open  to  the  .historian.  I 
offer  only  a few  examples  of  the  different  kinds  of  torture  and 
massacre.  You  may  infer  the  rest  from  the  dumb  terror  that 
now  binds  all  Korea  and  all  Korean  Christians. 

In  this  persecution  the  resourceful  Japanese  use  many  dif- 
ferent tortures  for  the  body  and,  in  addition,  a torture  for  the 
mind  that  is  a sadistic  twentieth-century  novelty  in  religious 
persecution. 

“A  Korean  woman,”  writes  a missionary,  “would  rather  die 

10 


than  expose  her  naked  body  in  ways  not  conformable  to  local 
custom.  But  it  seems  to  be  the  common  delight  of  official  de- 
pravity just  now  to  humiliate  our  Christian  women  by  strip- 
ping them  and  beating  them  while  naked.”  (P.  104.) 

Ingenious  Japanese!  Some  Korean  Christian  might  dare 
for  himself  sword  or  fire  or  Damiens’  bed  of  steel;  but  let 
him  think  twice  of  his  wife  and  daughters  put  to  open  shame. 

The  ordinary  slaveholder  used  to  be  inclined  to  encourage 
modesty  among  his  helots  as  increasing  their  market  value; 
but  the  Japanese,  in  the  systematic  degradation  of  his  new 
slaves,  finds  a profit  in  breaking  down  the  personal  dignity 
of  wives  and  daughters.  No  chief  of  police  would  have  ven- 
tured of  his  own  accord  to  adopt  such  a system  of  organized 
indecency.  It  was  obviously  thought  out  and  directed  by  the 
controlling  brain  at  Tokio. 

A government  that  rests  on  torture  is  a government  of 
devils,  unfit  for  even  our  time.  But  this  Japanese  Govern- 
ment plans  carefully  the  violation  of  sanctities  that  lie  at 
the  base  of  civilized  society.  I remember  no  other  modern 
government  that  has  deliberately  schemed  to  degrade  the  un- 
happy women  who  are  its  subjects.  There  is  an  unparalleled 
fiendishness  in  minds  that  can  thus  systematically  befoul  the 
purity  and  modesty  of  young  girls.  We  might  make  league 
and  alliance  with  an  inhuman  brute  and  put  him  in  a council 
to  rule  over  us;  but  we  have  some  pride  in  our  manhood,  some 
reverence  for  womanhood,  and  "we  will  not  enter  into  covenant 
with  a sadist. 

Of  those  that  w'ere  arrested,  be  they  40,000  or  4,000,  or  more 
or  fewer,  how  can  we  sleep  at  night  when  w'e  remember  that 
every  pang  they  suffered  earned  pleasure,  profit,  or  reward  for 
their  tormentors?  Of  those  that  died,  be  they  6,000  or  600,  or 
more  or  fewer,  how  many  died  an  easy  death?  Those  that 
died  quickly  were  the  lucky  ones. 

Japanese  methods  are  precise  and  thorough.  Christianity 
in  Japan  was  stamped  out  utterly  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
Then,  if  one  Christian  was  found  in  any  house,  from  four 
houses  to  the  right  of  that  house  and  from  four  houses  to  the 
left  every  man,  woman  and  child  was  taken,  and  died  the 
death.  Doubt  not  that  in  uprooting  Korean  Christianity  today 
the  Japanese  use  a similar  perfection  of  method. 

11 


In  the  torture  of  this  year,  machinery,  of  course,  was  some- 
times used.  One  man  was  squeezed  in  an  upright  press.  Then 
a cord  was  tied  firmly  about  one  finger,  and  he  was  hoisted 
till  his  toes  barely  touched  the  floor.  His  two  crimes  were 
cheering  in  a procession  and  receiving  a letter  from  a friend 
in  America  and  withholding  it  (P.  45). 

In  his  case  the  Japanese  applied  an  unnecessarily  spectacu- 
lar torture,  so  as  to  put  another  stumbling-block  in  John  Hay’s 
open  door  by  advertising  to  Koreans  and  Chinese  that  it  is 
bad  luck  to  receive  letters  from  America. 

The  best  modern  tortures,  however,  need  no  cumbrous  ma- 
chinery. The  grewsome  complexities  so  fashionable  in  med- 
ieval Europe  were  meant  to  save  people  from  torture  by 
frightening  them  beforehand. 

The  Japanese  held  wounded  men  in  prison  two  days  with- 
out water.  Think  about  that,  quietly.  They  took  out  of  our 
missionary  hospitals  men  with  gunshot  wounds,  and  dragged 
them  away  to  the  horrors  of  the  question  (P.  44). 

“Beating”  is  a weak  word  for  a strong  torment.  Beating 
can  easily  be  made  the  seventh  hell  of  agony.  With  a club 
discreetly  used,  a Japanese  can  break  the  stoutest  heart;  he 
can  in  a few  minutes  drive  the  strongest  to  scream  and  beg 
for  death.  He  can  do  the  same  thing  with  three  feet  of  cord. 

“Beating  and  torture,”  writes  a missionary,  “ are  the  car- 
dinal principles  of  Japanese  police  methods  in  Korea.” 

“It  is  usual  for  the  arrested  man.  to  be  cuffed  and  kicked 
by  several  policemen”  (P.  16). 

I offer  no  schedule  of  cruelties,  but  I may  tell  the  story  of 
a dozen  or  more,  and  you  then  know  the  story  of  ten  thou- 
sand. 

1.  The  Story  of  the  Pregnant  Woman  (P.  55).  No  machin- 
ery is  needed  to  torture  a pregnant  woman.  This  woman  had 
been  a mission  teacher,  “very  bright  and  intelligent.”  She 
was  two  months  advanced  in  pregnancy.  She  had  gone  to  the 
house  of  one  Pyo  to  ccmfort  the  mother,  who  was  distressed 
because  her  young  daughter  had  been  carried  off  by  the  Jap- 
anese police.  “As  she  came  out  of  the  house  several  police 
and  soldiers  came  into  the  yard.  They  knew  she  was  the 
school-teacher  and  had  been  searching  for  her  at  the  school. 
They  told  her  to  come  with  them.  As  she  stood  in  front  of  the 

12 


jiolice  station,  a policeman  kicked  her  hard  from  behind,  and 
she  fell  forward  into  the  room.  As  she  lay,  stunned,  on  the 
floor,  a policeman  put  his  foot  on  her  head.  Then  he  raised 
her  up  and  struck  her  many  times  over  the  head  and  face." 
He  tore  off  her  clothes,  “meanwhile  constantly  kicking  and 
striking  her.  He  also  beat  ner  '^ith  a heavy  stick  and  with 
a paddle.  He  tore  off  her  underclothes  and  kicked  her  in  the 
chest  and  beat  her,  accusing  her  of  setting  the  minds  of  the 
Korean  children  against  Japan,  and  said  that  he  intended  to 
heat  her  to  death.” 

“She  tried  to  cover  her  nakedness  with  the  underclothes 
that  had  been  stripped  from  her,”  but  they  were  torn  away 
from  her.  “She  tried  to  sit  down,  but  was  forced  to  rise  by 
constant  kicking  and  beating  with  a stick.  She  tried  to  turn 
away  from  the  many  men  in  the  room,  but  was  constantly 
forced  to  turn  again  so  as  to  face  the  men.  She  tried  to  pro- 
tect herself  with  her  hands  and  arms,  and  one  man  twisted 
her  arms  behind  her  back  and  held  them  there  while  the  beat- 
ing and  kicking  continued.  All  parts  of  her  body  were  beaten. 
She  became  benumbed  and  was  losing  consciousness  of  pain. 
Her  face  swelled  and  her  body  became  discolored.” 

2.  The  Story  of  the  Widow  Chung,  an  attendant  of  the 
Bible  Institute  (P.  64).  She  is  thirty-one.  She  was  taken  into 
the  office,  and  a policeman  tore  off  her  underclothes,  and  she 
protested.  For  this  “they  struck  her  in  the  face”  till  she  was 
black  and  blue.  She  was  beaten  “systematically  on  the  arms 
and  legs  with  a paddle.  The  beating  continued  for  some  time. 
The  police  then  stopped  the  beating  and  sat  down  to  drink 
tea  and  eat  Japanese  cakes,  meanwhile  making  fun  of  the 
woman  sitting  there  naked.  There  were  many  men  in  the 
room.”  Nor  was  she  the  only  woman  there.  The  beaten  mis- 
sion-teacher woman  was  lying  naked  at  the  side  of  the  room, 
while  the  tormentors  rested  and  laughed  and  ate  and  drank. 

3.  The  Story  of  the  Naked  Methodist  Women  (P.  50).  Fif- 
teen women,  twelve  of  them  Methodist  and  two  of  them  Pres- 
byterians, were  held  at  the  Pyengyang  police  station.  One  of 
them,  a girl  of  twenty-one,  tells  the  story:  “They  stripped  all 
the  women  naked  in  the  presence  of  many  men.  They  found 
nothing  against  me  except  that  I had  been  on  the  street  and 
had  shouted  ‘Mansey.’  They  beat  me.  My  arms  were  pulled 

13 


tight  behind  my  back  and  tied.  They  stuck  me  with  the  light- 
ed end  of  their  cigarettes.  Some  were  stuck  with  hot  irons. 
]My  offense  was  very  little  compared  with  those  who  made 
flags. 

“Some  were  beaten  until  they  were  unconscious.  One  young 
woman  was  just  at  the  time  of  her  monthly  sickness.  She  re- 
sisted having  her  clothes  taken  off.  They  tore  off  her  clothing 
and  beat  her  all  the  harder.  After  four  days  we  were  taken 
to  the  prison.  Here  we  were  packed  in  a room  with  men  and 
women.  One  day  an  old  man  was  beaten  until  he  died.  One 
of  the  Bible  women  was  right  next  to  him.”  She  asked  to  be 
moved  away  from  the  corpse,  but  was  denied.  “They  took  our 
Bibles  away  and  would  not  allow  us  to  talk  or  pray.”  The 
jailers  “blasphemed  the  name  of  Christ,”  and  asked  “if  there 
was  not  a man  by  the  name  of  Saul  who  was  put  in  prison.’ 
They  asked,  most  of  all,  as  to  what  the  foreigners  had  said, 
and  were  most  vile  and  cruel  to  those  who  had  been  with  the 
missionaries  or  who  had  taught  in  the  mission  schools.  Some 
of  the  girls  were  so  changed  that  they  did  not  look  like  per- 
sons.” 

4.  The  Story  of  a Young  Girl  (P.  47).  “Near  the  Dok  Su 
Palace  a Japanese  policeman  seized  me  from  behind  by  my 
hair  and  I was  thrown  to  the  ground  hard.”  “He  kicked  me 
several  times.”  “At  the  entrance  of  the  Chongno  police  office 
twenty  or  more  Japanese  policemen  who  stood  in  line  sneered 
and  kicked  me  and  struck  me  with  their  swords  and  struck 
me  in  the  face  many  times.  I became  almost  unconscious. 
My  hands  and  legs  were  bleeding. 

“I  was  led  into  a room  and  here  they  dragged  me  on  the 
floor.  They  struck  me  in  the  face.  They  struck  me  with  their 
swords.  They  flung  me  to  one  corner  of  the  room.  On  com- 
ing to  my  senses  I found  myself  in  a room  packed  with  young 
men  and  women.  I saw  some  of  them  handled  so  brutally  it 
almost  broke  my  heart  to  see  them  beaten.” 

After  some  time  “we  were  examined  by  a police  officer,  one 
by  one.  I was  made  to  kneel  with  my  legs  bound.”  Each 
question  and  answer  was  accompanied  by  “blows  in  the  face.” 
“I  was  ordered  to  expose  my  breasts.”  “They  tied  my  fingers 
together  and  jerked  them  violently.  This  made  me  feel  as  if 
my  fingers  were  being  torn  from  my  hand.”  She  then  tells 

14 


of  her  going  to  the  cells.  “As  I made  the  first  step  down, 
my  strength  gave  out  and  so  I rolled  down  the  whole  length 
of  the  stairs.  I was  obliged  to  crawl  into  a room.  The  police- 
man in  charge  was  very  much  amused  to  see  me  crawling 
into  the  room.  He  laughed  loudly.  Then  I prayed  and  seem- 
ed to  see  Jesus  and  was  much  comforted  from  on  high.  I 
spent  five  days  in  all  at  the  police  station.  Then  I was  sent 
to  the  West  Gate  Penitentiary. 

“There  I was  stripped  naked  and  was  locked  at  by  the  men.” 

5.  The  Torturing  of  One  Kim  (P.  51).  Kim,  a young  man 
of  promise,  a member  of  the  Third  City  Church  of  Taiku,  was 
heard  by  a friend  in  another  cell  “to  cry  out  a number  of  times 
at  the  pain  of  the  punishment  inflicted  on  him  in  the  jail." 
He  was  frequently  beaten  on  the  head  with  the  key  of  the  cell. 
After  his  release  he  suffered  terrible  pain  in  his  head.  “It 
seemed  as  it  all  one  side  of  his  head  was  gone.”  He  died  in 
ten  days. 

“The  night  he  died  he  was  protesting  in  his  delirium  that 
he  was  innocent  and  that  his  punishment  was  too  severe.  The 
doctor  who  attended  him  states  that  he  died  from  blows  on 
the  head.  The  neck  and  the  base  of  the  skull  were  darkly 
discolored.” 

6.  Chopping  a Christian  (P.  43).  “A  young  man  was  peace- 
fully going  home”  (he  had,  it  is  true,  been  shouting  “Mansay”) 
and  was  “walking  along  a small  street”  when  a policeman  from 
behind  threw  him  down  and  “drew  his  sword  and  hacked  at 
him.”  “His  skull  was  cut  through  so  that  the  brain  showed. 
This  was  done  by  three  sword  cuts  in  the  same  place.”  The 
photograph  showed  ten  sword-cuts.  “During  the  next  day  his 
little  cousin,  a mission  school  girl,”  who  was  greatly  attached 
to  him  “stood  watch  over  his  body.” 

7.  The  Elder’s  Wife  (P.  34).  On  March  24  “soldiers  look- 
ing for  one  of  the  elders”  of  a certain  church,  “took  his'  wife, 
a bright  looking  woman  of  about  thirty.”  “They  stripped  her 
of  all  her  clothing  and  beat  her  without  mercy”  to  make  her 
tell  where  her  husband  was. 

8.  Official  Advice  to  Christians.  One  missionary  statement 
runs  as  follows: 

“Wholesale  arrest  and  beating  of  Christians  simply  because 
they  are  Christians. 


15 


“In  some  places  the  men  and  women  of  the  village  were  cal 
led  together.  All  those  who  admitted  they  were  Christians 
were  maltreated  or  arrested,  and  the  others  sent  away.  Way- 
farers met  by  soldiers  and  gendarmes  are  asked  whether  they 
are  Christians  and  beaten  and  abused  on  the  admission  of  the 
fact.”  Korean  Christians  surviving  “are  given  all  sorts  of  an- 
nouncements by  local  police  and  gendarmes.  They  are  told 
that  Christianity  is  to  be  exterminated;  that  all  Christians  are 
to  be  shot,  that  meetings  are  to  be  forbidden.” 

“Throughout  the  country  the  police  immediately  began  to 
arrest  pastors,  elders  and  other  church  officers.” 

A Japanese  vice-governor  (the  real  executive  of  his  pro- 
vince) “in  a public  meeting  advised  people  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  Christianity.  Police  officials  are  urging  the  same 
thing  everywhere”  (P.  89). 

“Presbyterians  and  Methodist  organizations  are  both  ob- 
noxious to  the  government.” 

9.  Scourged  on  the  Cross  (P.  67).  Four  young  theological 
students  who  had  taken  no  part  in  any  demonstration  “were 
found  in  the  college  dormitories  by  Japanese  soldiers.  Tied 
to  a wooden  cross  they  were  given  thirty-nine  strokes  with  a 
paddle  and  told  that,  as  Christ  suffered  on  the  cross,  it  was 
fitting  that  they  should.” 

10.  The  Massacre  at  Cheamni  (P.  74).  The  village  of 
Cheamni  lay  only  fifteen  miles  from  the  railroad  by  which  all 
tourists  used  to  travel  on  their  way  from  New  York  to  Peking 
and  from  Paris  to  Tokio.  Japanese  soldiers  were  sent  there 
in  motor-cars. 

“The  gendarmes  and  soldiers  marching  into  this  village, 
summoned  the  men  of  the  village  to  attend  a meeting  in  the 
church,  where,  they  were  told,  certain  orders  would  be  read 
to  them.” 

The  Japanese  gathered  in  this  way  about  twelve  Christian 
men  and  about  twenty -five  of  the 'Korean  religion.  As  soon  as 
the  men  had  “been  gathered  together,  the  soldiers  opened  fire 
upon  them  through  the  open  windows,  after  having  surrounded 
the  building.  To  complete  their  work,  the  surviving  women 
of  the  village  told  the  missionaries,  the  soidiery  entered  the 
building  and  bayoneted  all  the  men  whom  the  bullets  had  not 
killed,  while  two  women  who  had  approached  the  building  to 

16 


learn  the  fate  of  their  husbands  were  bayoneted  and  their 
bodies  thrown  among  those  of  the  men.  Then  kerosene  was 
poured  upon  the  dead  and  the  bodies  and  the  church  build- 
ing consumed  by  fire.” 

A missionary  who  saw  the  place  the  next  day  makes  these 
notes:  ‘‘Heaps  of  smoking  ashes.  Groups  of  women,  chil- 
dren, and  old  men  sitting  on  the  hillside  watching  the  ruins 
in  dumb  despair.  Corpse  horribly  burned  lying  just  outside  of 
a building,  which  we  learned  later  had  been  the  church.  This 
body  was  photographed  where  it  lay.  1 questioned  ‘ a villager’ 
but  fear  and  shock  had  numbed  him.  He  held  his  head  in  his 
hand  and  said  that  everything  he  had  and  all  the  results  of 
years  of  hard  work  had  gone.” 

The  missionary  said,  ‘‘How  is  it  you  are  alive?”  and  he  an- 
swered, ‘‘1  am  not  a Christian.” 

These  Christians  were  Methodists.  ‘‘These  people  had  lost 
everything,  even  their  seeds  for  the  coming  year.”  Another 
man  said  that  ‘‘his  house  had  not  been  set  on  fire  because  he 
was  not  a Christian.” 

The  soldiers  seem  to  have  belonged  to  the  78th  Regiment. 
The  missionary  says  that  at  Cheamni  ‘‘the  odor  of  burnt  fiesh” 
about  ‘ the  church  was  sickening.” 

One  of  the  men  who  accompanied  the  British  consul  to  this 
place  says: 

‘‘Whenever  we  started  to  talk  to  the  natives”  the  “police- 
men would  saunter  up  and  the  Korean  would  freeze  up.”  “The 
number  of  Christian  men  killed  is  twelve,  whose  names  were 
secured,  in  addition  to  which  two  women  who  went  to  find  out 
what  was  happening  to  their  husbands  were  killed,  one  a wo- 
man over  forty  and  the  other  nineteen.  These  may  have  been 
the  bodies  we  saw  outside  the  church.” 

Cheamni  is  a type  of  one  class  of  burnings  and  massacres. 
In  that  cne  district  fifteen  towns  were  burned. 

1.1.  A Night  Massacre  (P.  SO).  A type  of  another  kind  of 
official  burning  is  Soo  Chon,  where  “the  people  were  awaken- 
ed by  finding  their  houses  cn  fire.  As  soon  as  they  ran  out 
they  were  struck  with  swords  or  bayonets  or  shot.”  A church 
and  thirty  houses  were  burned. 

12.  Another  Type  of  Massacre  (P.  33).  Of  massacres  we 
find  another  type,  exemplified  in  Maungsan,  where  fifty-six 

17 


men  were  summoned  to  the  police  station,  locked  in  the  police 
yard  and  shot  down  by  the  police  from  the  top  of  the  wall. 

The  Koreans  had  heard,  as  a voice  from  heaven,  the  inspir- 
ing declarations  of  our  President.  It  was  their  plan  to  march, 
utterly  unarmed,  and  cheer  for  independence  and  their  native 
land  and  to  submit  to  any  cruelty.  Their  whole  aim  was  to 
tell  the  outer  world  of  their  woes.  The  outer  world  finds  it 
profitable  to  be  deaf  to  their  cry,  and  hurries  to  put  its  obse- 
quious neck  under  the  conqueror’s  foot,  and  begs  him  to  ac- 
cept thirty  million  new  slaves  and  pass  on  to  fresh  conquests. 
Resolved  to  use  no  violence,  the  Koreans  kept  themselves  un- 
der firm  control  to  a surprising  degree.  That  was  the  case 
even  where  two  women  were  carried  out  from  a police  sta- 
tion and  the  crowd  of  five  hundred,  that  had  gathered  to  pro- 
test, burst  into  sobs  at  the  horror  of  their  condition.  That 
was  the  station  where  the  police  officer  explained  that,  al- 
though it  was  not  necessary  to  strip  men  or  old  women,  girls 
and  young  women  had  to  be  stripped  naked  in  the  search  for 
seditious  papers  (P.  56). 

13.  The  Story  of  a Brave  Young  Man  (P.  16).  One  young 
man,  seeing  the  girl  that  he  was  engaged  to  in  the  hands  of 
the  police,  went  to  her  rescue.  How  many  of  us  would  have 
had  that  daring?  Between  him  and  that  helpless  girl  stood  all 
the  armies  of  the  League  of  Nations.  What  do  you  suppose 
was  done  to  that  young  man  in  the  dungeon  where  he  lay 
when  last  heard  of? 

14.  The  Story  of  a Man’s  Mother  (P.  34).  “The  mother  of 
one  of  the  wounded  men  told  a policeman  that  if  her  son  died 
she  would  take  revenge.’  The  policeman  went  to  her  house 
and  again  stabbed  her  son  who  was  lying  on  the  floor  wound- 
ed.” 

15.  Respect  for  Gray  Hairs  (P.  32).  At  Suna  Ub  an  old 
man  went  to  the  gendarme  station  to  protest  against  the  atro- 
cities. In  the  East  reverence  is  paid  to  gray  hairs,  and  old 
men  can  speak  up  where  others  fear  to  tread.  “This  man  the 
gendarmes  shot  dead.  His  wife  came  in  and,  finding  the  body, 
sat  down  beside  it  wailing,  as  is  the  custom  of  Korea.  She 
was  told  to  keep  still,  and  not  doing  so  she  also  was  killed.” 

18 


The  daughter  who  came  to  seek  her  aged  parents  was  spared, 
being  merely  slashed  with  a sword. 

This  persecution  throws  light  on  the  part  which  Japan  will 
take  in  the  League  of  Nations. 

The  Governor-General  of  Korea  is  close  to  the  heads  of  the 
Japanese  state  and  in  the  closest  confidence  of  the  court.. 
What  he  says  and  what  he  does  are  in  a high  degree  the  voice- 
and  act  of  Tokio. 

The  great  Ito  was  resident  in  Korea.  The  powerful  Terau- 
chi  was  governor-general  before  he  became  prime  minister,, 
preceding  Kara,  now  prime  minister.  Hasegawa  succeeded 
Terauchi  as  governor-general. 

We  may  expect  Hasegawa  in  a short  time  to  rule  over  us. 
as  Japan’s  representative  in  the  Council  of  the  Big  Five. 

This  governor-general  made  a proclamation  reminding  the- 
Koreans,  with  a view  to  letting  them  understand  that  there 
is  no  hope  from  any  quarter,  that  Japan  is  “one  of  the  prin- 
cipal factors  in  the  League  of  Nations.”  He  exhorted  Kore- 
ans “to  participate  in  the  great  work  of  humanity  and  righte- 
ousness” of  Japan  “as  one  of  the  leading  powers  of  the 
world”  (P.  109). 

Lovers  of  the  League  of  Nations,  which  this  governor-gen- 
eral describes  so  accurately,  will  be  pleased  to  know  what  is 
done  in  this  governor-general’s  house. 

Pak  Tun  Nak,  aged  twenty-five,  met  with  all  the  other  peo- 
ple of  this  village  at  the  end  of  March  and  without  violence. 
They  paraded  the  village  calling  “Mansay.”  Gendarmes  told 
them  to  £0  home.  This  they  did,  and  that  day  there  was  no 
trouble.  Five  days  later  gendarmes  went  from  house  to  house 
arresting  people.  Pak  Tun  Nak  and  many  others  were  taken 
to  the  governor-general’s  and  flogged.  He  received  thirty 
strokes  at  12  o’clock  and  thirty  at  2 o’clock.  He  was  taken 
to  the  missionary  hospital  (P.  41). 

A government  school-girl  says:  “On  March  1,  at  two,  vve 
went  to  the  French  Consulate  and  the  American  Consulate  . 
and  shouted  ‘Mansay.’  We  pressed  forward  to  the  Governor-  - 
General’s,  and  there  the  Kotang  Koan  (high  official)  ‘came  out 
with  his  sword,  beating  all  in  his  way.  He  struck  me  with 
his  sword  on  the  back,  making  a wound  three  inches  long  . 

19 


The  force  of  the  blow  threw  me  down,  after  which  he  stamped 
on  my  head  with  his  foot’  ’’  (P.  82). 

Poor  little  lamb!  Shouting  her  cry  for  freedom  before 
France  and  England  and  before  the  august  Governor-General 
who  stands  for  the  might  of  the  League  of  Nations! 

A peculiar  gravity  attends  the  Korean  terrorizing.  It  has 
a two-fold  object.  It  is  to  terrify  the  Koreans  into  silence; 
it  is  also  to  terrify  Japan’s  new  Chinese  subjects  into  silence. 
When  Japan  moves  in  China,  she  wishes  to  hear  no  protests 
and  to  be  bothered  with  no  Christians.  The  prudent  Chinese 
study  the  reports  on  Korea  and  will  hasten  to  avoid  being 
mixed  up  in  any  way  with  Christians  and  Americans.  The 
prestige  of  Christianity  and  of  America  is  gone  and  Kara  is 
content.  Cne  would  suppose  that  at  the  first  offense  the  near- 
est missionary  could  go  to  the  polished  governor-general  and 
througli  him  and  the  polished  Viscount  Uchida  cable  all  the 
facts  to  New  York  and  Paris.  Nobody  dares  to  mail  even 
sealed  letters  from  Korea  about  these  crimes. 

Japan  controlled  the  mails  and  telegraphs.  America,  there- 
fore, could  hear  nothing  of  these  atrocities.  America  meekly 
waits  for  such  news  from  Asia  as  Japan  thinks  wholesome  for 
her  weak  mind.  The  Peace  Conference  was  sitting,  and  we  in 
our  homes  were  invoking  divine  light  and  guidance  for  its 
counsels. 

The  facts  about  Korea  were  essential  to  aid  our  President 
in  deciding  whether  he  should  award  the  thirty  million  of 
Shan-tung  to  the  cruel  task-masters  that  hold  the  whip  over 
the  seventeen  millions  of  Korea.  If  we  had  made  any  prom- 
ise, it  would  be  void  because  of  the  concealment  of  these  ma- 
terial facts  about  the  policy  and  conduct  of  the  men  to  whom 
we  awarded  Shan-tung. 

A missionary  came  to  New  York,  a messenger,  as  if  we  were 
back  in  the  days  of  Erasmus.  Messengers,  with  documents 
hidden  about  their  clothes,  made  their  way  out  of  Korea. 

In  a famous  painting,  ’’The  Missionary’s  Story,”  a shabby 
priest  tries  to  tell  an  absent-minded  cardinal  what  the  pagan 
wolves  have  done  to  the  lambs  of  his  flock.  I fear  that  some 
of  the  officers  of  the  great  mission  boards  were  alarmed  when 
they  heard  this  Korean  missionary’s  story  lest  the  American 
people  might  hear  what  should  fire  the  coldest  heart.  Who, 

20 


with  the  smell  of  burning  Christian  flesh  in  his  nostrils,  could 
vote  for  Governor-General  Hasegawa  and  his  League  of  Na- 
tions ? 

The  Commission  on  Relations  with  the  Orient  which  op- 
erates as  a brake  on  the  mission  boards  has  consistently  fol- 
lowed the  policy,  in  which  it  has  been  skilfully  seconded  by 
the  press,  of  keeping  everything  quiet  and  keeping  everybody 
cool. 

There  are  indications  that  some  of  the  hierarchy  of  our  Pro- 
testant churches  have  been  misled  by  Japanese  diplomatists, 
into  believing  that  everything  should  be  hushed  up  that  may 
diminish  the  popular  demand  for  a League  of  Nations  and  for 
a permanent  alliance  between  our  Government  and  that  of 
Japan. 

On  April  16,  19.19,  the  mission  boards  called  a meeting  of 
that  commission  of  the  sesquipedalian  name. 

To  two  of  such  meetings  “Important  Japanese  were  invited." 

“Urgent  and  full  cablegrams”  were  promptly  sent  to  Japan 
by  some  of  these  “Japanese  friends.” 

The  commission  sought  by  these  “quiet  and  friendly  meth- 
ods” to  exert  influence.  “It  deemed  it  only  fair  and  just  to 
take  up  the  matter  first  with  the  Japanese,”  “before  giving  to 
the  daily  press  the  rapidly  accumulating  matter  from  Korea.” 

Under  pressure  from  anxious  inquiring  Christians,  that  com- 
mission scrambled  together  such  papers  as  they  could  no  lon- 
ger withhold,  and  printed  them  in  the  little  brown  pamphlet 
of  125  pages  referred  to  in  the  preface,  entitled  “The  Korean 
Situation.” 

That  pamphlet  begins  by  saying  that  “many  exaggerations 
have  been  circulated.”  It  says  that  “there  is  good  ground  for 
belief  that  even  before  the  uprising”  — “uprising”  is  a strange 
word  to  describe  the  Korean  s peaceful  protest — “the  present 
cabinet”  “was  earnestly  grappling  with  the  problem  of  ad- 
ministrative reform  in  Korea”  and  that  “there  is  every  reason 
to  believe  that  Premier  Hara  and  his  colleagues  will  exert 
their  fullest  power  to  rectify  the  wrongs  and  inaugurate  a new 
era  in  Korea.” 

The  facts  set  forth  here  have  been  dug  out  of  that  pamph- 
let. You  may  rest  assured,  then,  that  these  notes  contain 
none  of  the  “exaggerations”  deplored  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gulick. 

21 


How  much  effort  has  been  made  by  the  press  and  the  com- 
mission to  awaken  and  inform  the  public  you  may  infer  from 
the  amount  of  information  that  you  yourself  had  in  regard  to 
the  Korean  atrocities  before  reading  these  notes. 

Viscount  Uchida  will  smile  and  say,  “You  ask  Americans  to 
be  more  royalist  than  the  king,  to  be  more  zealous  against 
pagan  cruelty  than  the  mission  boards.”  Let  me  remind  you 
that  there  was  once  a mission  board  in  London  that  derived 
revenue  from  the  African  slave-trade. 

Caesar’s  image  and  superscription  go  a long  way  with  a mis- 
sion board,  but  when  I hear  of  Christian  maidens  dishonored, 
Christian  men  with  their  finger-nails  torn  up  by  torturers, 
Christian  women  tormented  to  make  them  betray  their  hus- 
bands, I need  no  cautious  clergyman  or  prudent  prelate  to  tell 
me  what  to  think  or  what  to  say. 

The  mission  boards  are  made  up  of  earnest,  honest,  able, 
learned  men,  devoted  to  spreading  the  gospel.  In  every  board 
are  ardent  servants  of  God  who  plead  with  the  board  to  make 
no  bargain  with  such  Japanese  officials  as  are  even  now  forc- 
ing morphine  on  Shan-tung  and  always  there  is  some  unprac- 
tical zealot,  like  John  Brown  of  Ossawatomie,  who  feels  on 
his  own  back  every  lash  that  tears  the  flesh  of  a Christian 
slave.  But  boards  of  directors  bank  and  cool  all  apostolic 
fires.  Six  mission  boards,  acting  through  a commission,  op- 
erate as  a freezing  mixture  on  righteous  indignation.  After 
ragged  martyrs  have  told  their  tale,  the  chilly  voice  of  Mr. 
Worldly  Wiseman  is  heard,  advising  pliancy  and  the  concilia- 
tion of  the  powers  of  darkness. 

On  April  20  a cablegram  was  sent  to  Viscount  Uchida,  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Affairs.  We  can  infer  from  the  answer  that 
it  was  “cordial  and  friendly”  and  that  the  commission  de- 
clared itself  “moderate.”  The  commission  seems  pleased  with 
the  answer  they  received.  In  that  Hara,  while  acknowledging 
the  obsequious  attitude  of  the  commission,  coldly  threatens 
that  any  publicity,  any  excitement,  any  denunciation  in  the 
press,  will  “seriously  interfere”  with  his  “reforms.”  In  other 
words,  more  torture,  more  massacre,  unless  you  are  silent  un- 
. der  the  whip.  What  Premier  Hara  means  is:  not  one  word 
from  you  Americans  until  we  have  carried  our  point  at  Paris 
i and  secured  a free  hand  in  China.  When  we  Japanese  have 

22 


stamped  out  Korean  Christianity  we  njay,  later,  grant  you 
some  “reforms.” 

The  Premier  Hara  who  said,  in  answer  to  the  mission 
boards,  that  he  was  laboring  on  reforms  is  the  same  Hara 
who,  on  August  27,  1919,  said:  “Japan  has  no  ambitious  de- 
signs against  China.  The  Ministry  is  urgently  advocating 
closer  friendly  relations.  The  day  will  arrive  when  China 
will  come  to  comprehend  the  sincerity  of  Japan.” 

Korea  and,  I hope,  some  Americans,  already  understand  the 
sincerity  of  Japan. 

On  April  20  the  “cordial  and  friendly”  telegram  was  sent  to 
Viscount  Uchida,  which  elicited  the  information  that  “Premier 
Hara  is  now  in  the  midst  of  special  investigations  for  the  real- 
ization of  reforms”  and  his  threat. 

The  Americans  and  the  American  press  were  humble  and 
silent.  Let  me  describe  some  of  the  activities  of  a liberal 
Japanese  premier  “in  the  midst  of”  plans  for  “reform.” 

On  April  19,  1919,  Mowry,  American  missionary,  innocent  of 
any  knowledge  of  the  agitation,  was  sentenced  to  six  months 
at  hard  labor. 

On  April  24  a missionary  writes,  “Since  the  coming  in  of 
fresh  troops  and  the  inauguration  of  ‘more  severe’  methods 
of  repression  as  announced  by  the  government,  increasing 
numbers  of  reports  come  in  regarding  the  violation  of  women 
by  the  soldiers.”  “The  absence  of  this  form  of  violence  in  the 
past”  and  “the  sudden  appearance  of  such  reports  coincident 
with  the  new  order” — these  things  fit  together.  “The  reports 
. . . come  from  trustworthy  sources.  Complaint  made  to 

the  police  in  regard  to  this  has  been  met  by  beating”  (P.  85, 
101). 

On  April  26  a missionary  writes:  “The  Kwak  San  church 
burned  yesterday  morning.  Atrocious  tortures  of  prisoners  in. 
Tyung  Ja.” 

On  April  30  a missionary  writes  that  Christian  refugees; 
“have  no  bedding,  no  clothes.  The  church  at — better  not  give 
its  name — was  burned  the  other  night.” 

Under  date  of  May  25,  thirty-five  days  after  the  “friendly 
and  cordial”  message,  you  will  find  a tragic  report  about  nine 
Christian  boys  who  were  “beaten.”  Perhaps,  besides  being 
Christians,  they  had  complained  to  the  police  about  rapes. 

23 


Let  their  case  tell  you  what  it  means  to  be  beaten,  and  I need 
not  give  more  examples  of  Premier  Hara’s  “reforms.” 

“Eleven  Kangkei  boys  came  here  from  . All  the 

eleven  were  beaten  ninety  stripes — thirty  each  day  for  three 
days,  May  16,  17  and  18,  and  let  out  May  18.  Nine  came  here 
IMay  22,  and  two  more  INIay  24. 

“Tak  Chank  Kuk  died  about  noon.  May  23. 

“Kim  Myungah  died  this  evening. 

“Kim  Hyungsen  is  very  sick. 

“Kim  Chungsen  and  Song  Taksam  are  able  to  walk  but  are 
badly  broken. 

“Kim  Oosik  seemed  very  doubtful  but  afterward  improved. 

“Kim  Syungha  reached  here  about  an  hour  before  his  broth- 
er died.  The  first  six  who  came  into  the  hospital  were  in  a 
dreadful  fix,  four  days  after  beating.  No  dressing  or  anything 
had  been  done  for  them.  Dr.  Sharrocks  just  told  me  that  he 
feels  doubtful  about  some  of  the  others  since  Myungha  died. 
It  is  gangrene.  One  of  these  boys  is  a Chun  Kyoin,  and  an- 
other is  not  a Christian,  but  the  rest  are  all  Christians. 

“ilr.  Lampe  has  photographs.  The  stripes  were  laid  on  to 
the  buttocks  and  the  flesh  pounded  into  a pulp”  (P.  125). 

"Ninety  strokes  of  the  bamboo  flail,  thirty  each  on  three 
successive  days  is  a frequent  penalty.” 

Observe  that  after  twenty-four  hours  the  torn  victim  is 
given  over  again  to  the  tormentors,  and  the  flail  falls  exactly 
on  the  gaping  wounds  of  yesterday.  Now  hear  what  the  ser- 
vants of  hell  were  doing  eighty  days  after  our  “cordial”  tele- 
gram : 

“Seoul,  July  9,  1919.  Yesterday  we  admitted — beaten  cases, 
fifteen.  Dr.  Ludlow  has  been  treating  cases  which  have  come 
to  us  ever  since  early  in  March,  but  these  fifteen  students 
came  straight  from  the  West  Gate  Prison  in  Seoul,  having  re- 
ceived their  last  30  blows  in  the  morning.  They  expect  20  of 
their  comrades  to  be  released  tomorrow. — These  beatings  are 
given  either  with  bamboo  rods  or  rawhide  and  the  blows  are 
usually  delivered  on  the  buttocks. 

“We  have  had  cases,  however,  where  the  blows  extend  from 
the  shoulders  to  the  buttocks. 

“In  some  cases,  the  men  who  do  the  beating  are  relieved 
after  each  tenth  stroke.” 


24 


I have  nothing  to  say  about  Korean  independence.  I wish 
that  in  1917  our  President  had  asked  the  great  powers,  then  in 
a frame  of  mind  suited  for  virtuous  resolves,  to  stipulate  that 
China  and  Korea  should  be  given  such  treatment  as  the 
American  conscience  can  approve. 

I wish  our  Secretary  of  State,  when  the  first  messenger  ar- 
rived from  Korea,  had  conveyed  to  Japan  in  diplomatic  lan- 
guage a statement  of  views  and  policy  like  this: 

“I  hear  that  you  are  stamping  out  Christianity.  That  is  old 
stuff,  and  will  not  go.  America  maintains  that  American  mis- 
sionaries can  go  anywhere  in  the  world  and  preach  their  vari- 
ous gospels  and  set  up  hospitals  and  churches  and  make  con- 
verts. No  man  anywhere  in  the  world  can  interfere  with  them 
or  their  converts.  You  may  threaten  that  my  words  will  cause 
fresh  sufferings  to  Korean  Christians.  Such  threats  also  are 
old  stuff.  I require  you  to  admit  instantly  to  Korea  commis- 
sioners to  take  account  of  facts  and  see  that  no  such  threats 
are  carried  out. 

“You  may  retort  that  we  have  mobs  and  lynchings  in  Am- 
erica. That  is  true,  but  not  in  point. 

“America  is  not  in  form  a Christian  nation,  but  to  a great 
extent  she  is  a nation  of  Christians.  i\Iany  of  these  Christians 
are  anxious  not  to  be  detected  and  exposed  as  hypocrites.  If 
you  show  the  slightest  intention  of  carrying  on  in  any  respect 
a pagan  persecution  of  Christians  and  Christianity,  I shall  in- 
stantly call  on  the  governments  of  England  and  France  to  join 
with  me  in  checking  you,  and  shall  ask  them  at  once  to  lay 
aside  ail  their  crooked  bargains  with  yqu.  If  they  decline,  I 
shall  report  your  refusal  and  their  refusals  to  my  people,  and 
they  will  be  guided  in  their  dealings  with  other  powers  by  the 
light  that  these  refusais  throw  on  governments  that  misrepre- 
sent their  people.” 

It  is  your  turn  next,  America.  Japan  is  moving  toward  you 
by  way  of  Korea  and  Shan-tung.  With  northern  China  en- 
slaved and  assimilated,  Japan,  with  her  speed  and  cunning, 
can  smile  at  your  measureless  resources.  When  she  chooses 
to  move  against  you,  some  injudicious  economizer  will  have 
disarmed  you. 

No  nation  can  go  unarmed  while  old  Pagan  gnashes  his 
teeth,  particularly  when  he  sits  in  a high  seat  of  the  high. 

25 


council  of  the  League  of  Nations.  When  she  chooses  to  move 
against  you  she  will  contrive  to  embroil  you  in  some  new 
European  quarrel,  and  you  will  have  to  face  Japan  and  some 
European  power  at  once.  Japan  has  a right  to  expect  that  at 
the  critical  moment  our  rulers  will  show  themselves  not  in- 
fallible. 

We  can  never  make  a greater  blunder  than  alliance  with 
Japan.  We  can  never  make  a greater  blunder  than  surrender- 
ing China  to  Japan.  We  have  only  one  course  to  follow:  cut 
loose  at  once  from  the  League  of  Nations.  Demand  the  with- 
drawal of  America,  France,  Japan  and  England  from  all  il- 
legitimate interference  in  China.  Ask  the  Japanese  Afreet  to 
step  out  of  China  and  confine  himself  to  eastern  Siberia. 

John  Milton  lifted  up  his  voice  and  cried,  “Avenge,  Oh  Lord, 
thy  slaughtered  saints!”  The  Lord  has  not  avenged  them  to 
this  day,  and  the  Japanese  know  it.  Milton  and  Hampden, 
lovers  of  God  and  liberty  and  honor,  could  waste  their  time 
on  such  invocations. 

Listen  to  our  modern  form  of  prayer:  “Lord  God  of  Sab- 
aoth,  before  whom  lie  thy  slaughtered  saints,  Thou  dost  hear 
the  long  agony  of  tortured  Christian  women.  Grant  that  there 
may  be  on  earth  the  minimum  of  publicity,  and  no  excitement, 
and  that  we  may  continue  in  our  moderate  attitude,  and  that 
we  may  still  receive  the  congratulations  of  Viscount  Uchida 
on  our  cordial  and  friendly  spirit. 

“Thou  knowest.  Oh,  Lord,  that  those  inquisitors  who  are 
paid  by  Prime  Minister  Kara  commit  their  deeds  of  cruelty 
against  his  wishes  and  in  violation  of  his  commands. 

“Thou  knowest.  Oh,  Lord,  that  any  public  criticism  will  ser- 
iously interfere  with  the  realization  of  the  reforms  with  which 
~ Prime  ^Minister  Hara  has  been  for  some  time  past  most  deeply 
concerned. 

“Thou  knowest.  Oh,  Lord,  and  Prime  IMinister  Hara  knows, 
that  during  the  several  months  in  which  he  has  been  most 
. deeply  concerned  in  regard  to  the  introduction  of  reforms  in 
Korea,  bodies  of  military  have  been  taking  more  severe  meas- 
ures against  Korean  Christians  which  cannot  be  described  in 
' Church,  and  that  the  machinery  of  the  Japanese  Government 
in  Korea  has  been  directed  to  the  suppression  of  all  practice 


26 


and  teaching  of  Christian  religion;  but  Thou  knowest  how  un- 
faithful human  servants  are  and  with  what  helpless  sorrow 
Prime  Minister  Kara  has  observed  this  disobedience  of  his 
orders. 

“We  pray  thee  to  open  the  ears  of  our  people,  so  that  they 
may  aid  the  Christian  powers  in  extending  to  China  the  do- 
minion of  Japan  and  the  persecution  of  the  Church. 

“There  now  rises  to  heaven,  as  the  incense  of  sacrifice,  the 
smell  of  the  burnt  flesh  of  Korean  Christians. 

“Hasten,  therefore.  Oh,  Lord,  the  day  on  which  we  shall 
join  the  League  of  Nations,  and  make  firm  alliance  with  the 
emperor  and  the  various  priesthoods,  Buddhist  and  Shinto,  of 
Japan;  and  above  all,  hasten  the  day  on  which  the  Japanese 
may  enter  into  undisturbed  possession  of  their  promised  land, 
Shan-tung,  so  that  the  smell  of  the  burning  flesh  of  Chinese 
Christians  may  float  as  incense  to  thy  throne.  Amen.” 

John  Eunyan,  in  the  “Pilgrim’s  Progress,”  wrote  a prophetic 
description  of  a Japanese  police  court  and  of  the  trial  and  ex- 
ecution of  Christians  in  Korea. 

“Then  were  these  poor  men  brought  before  their  examiners 
again  and  there  charged  as  being  guilty  of  the  late  hubbub. 
So  they  beat  them  pitifully  and  hanged  irons  upon  them  . . 

for  an  example  and  a terror  to  others,  lest  any  should  further 
speak  in  their  behalf  or  join  themselves  unto  them.  . . . 

They  were  brought  before  their  enemies  and  arraigned.  Their 
indictment  was  . . . that  they  were  disturbers  . . . 

that  they  had  made  commotions  and  divisions  and  had  won  a 
party  to  their  own  most  dangerous  opinions  in  contempt  of 
the  law  of  the  Prince. 

“Then  Faithful  began  to  answer:  . . . ‘As  for  disturb- 

ance, I make  none,  being  myself  a man  of  peace.  The  parties 
that  were  won  to  us  were  won  by  beholding  our  truth  and 
innocence,  and  they  are  only  turned  from  the  worse  to  the 
better.’  ” 

Testimony  was  given  against  Faithful. 

In  the  course  of  his  defence.  Faithful  said:  “The  Prince  of 
this  town,  and  all  the  rablement  of  his  attendants  . . . 

are  more  fit  for  being  in  hell  than  in  this  town  and  country, 
and  so  the  Lord  have  mercy  upon  me.  . . ” 

Judgment  was  given  against  Faithful. 

“Then  they  scourged  him,  then  they  buffeted  him,  then  they 
lanced  his  flesh  with  knives  and  . . . pricked  him  with 

their  swords  ....  Thus  came  Faithful  to  his  end. ’’ 


27 


“At  the  end  of  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death,”  says 
Banyan,  "lay  blood,  bones,  ashes  and  mangled  bodies  of  men 
. . . . I espied  a little  before  me  a cave  where  the  giant 

Pagan  dwelt  in  olden  time,  by  whose  power  and  tyranny  the 
men  whose  bones,  blood  and  ashes  lay  there,  were  cruelly  put 
to  death  ....  I have  learned  since  that  Pagan  has  been 
dead  many  a day.” 

John  Bunyan  wrote  244  years  ago.  He  thought,  in  his  in- 
nocence, that  pagan  persecution  of  Christianity  was  at  an  end. 

I can  imagine  Uchida  and  Kara  and  Hasegawa  smiling  at 
this  in  the  library  of  the  Noblemen’s  Club. 

“Old  Pagan  is  dead,  is  he?”  says  Hasegawa.  “We’ll  shov 
them  whether  old  Pagan  is  dead  or  not.” 

The  Japanese  Government  invites  us  to  enter  into  a per- 
manent league  in  the  face  of  George  Washington’s  advice.  In 
that  league  the  fiercest,  most  ambitious,  and  most  formidable 
of  its  controlling  members  will  be  a heathen  nation,  drunk 
with  ambition. 

The  world  was  backward  enough  in  1675,  but  even  then  we 
thought  we  were  beyond  pagan  persecution.  Now  the  pagans 
begin  again,  and  we  are  their  obedient  acolytes  and  the  fa- 
miliars of  their  torture-chambers,  and  we  hurry  to  give  them 
fresh  victims. 

I have  no  prejudice  against  paganism.  I love  many  pagan 
temples.  Some  of  the  religions  of  Japan  are  better  than  some 
of  the  religions  that  I see  about  me  here.  But  let  us  use  no 
tact  with  torturers.  Let  us  hear  of  no  policy  of  “cordiality 
and  friendship”  with  any  man  in  Asia  that  crucifies  a 
Christian. 

The  pains  and  horrors  of  this  persecution  came  to  us  here 
through  secret  messengers.  The  telegraph  and  the  wireless 
were  closed  by  our  own  associates  against  the  sending  of 
these  messages:  and  then  the  Government  of  Japan  sends  us 
word  that  we  must  not  protest  or  publish.  Yes,  they  threaten 
us.  They  say:  “For  a long  time  we  have  been  planning  re- 
forms, but  if  you  do  not  shut  your  mouths  we  will  stop  the 
reforms.” 

And  this  is  the  government  that  is  to  be  one  of  the  Big 
Five,  who  in  the  league  are  to  dominate  our  own  sublime  free 
nation. 


28 


May  my  life  cease  and  my  hand  wither  before  I consent  by 
any  voice  or  vote,  public  or  private,  to  any  such  Japanese 
dominion. 

THE  END. 


POSTSCRIPT 

The  Catholic  missionary  journal,  “The  Field  Afar,”  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1919,  gave  warning  of  the  gathering  storm  of  perse- 
cution in  a letter  written  by  Father  Price,  a year  ago,  thus: 

“Cathedral,  Seoul,  Korea 
Oct.  27th,  1918. 

“The  blight  of  the  Japanese  Government  is  on  everything 
in  Japan  and  Korea.  There  is  great  fear  among  the  Koreans 
in  regard  to  becoming  Christians:  it  is  said  that  those  who 
announce  their  intention  of  doing  so  are  put  under  surveil- 
lance by  the  Japanese  police  and  visited  every  week  and  are 
obliged  to  submit  to  suspicious  interrogatories.  As  a conse- 
quence the  number  of  conversions  around  Seoul  has  fallen  off 
50  per  cent. 

“The  restrictions  in  regard  to  the  schools  are  of  so  severe 
a character  that  in  Japan  the  missionaries  see  little  hope  for 
the  future.  The  Government  thinks  its  salvation  depends  on 
having  the  Japanese  taught  that  the  Emperor  is  divine,  that 
all  must  be  subordinated  to  the  State,  and  it  looks  with  ill-will 
upon  any  other  teaching.” 


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